Summer conditions show for NSSA surf contest

It was a summer-like day at the beach – hot weather, glassy water and dolphins cruising around.

Unfortunately, the waves were also stuck in summer mode, small and mushy and making it tough for competitors at the National Scholastic Surf Contest down in Newport Beach at 54th street on Sunday.

“The season has been unbelievably beautiful for the weather, I haven’t seen that happen in years,” NSSA executive director Janice Aragon said. “It’s been a slow start to the season wave-wise, it hasn’t been an eventful season for surf – but you know NSSA always gets the job done and we make the most of it. The kids learn they have to surf in all conditions, that’s part of it.”

The fifth stop for the NSSA Open Division brought some of the top young competitors from around the region to battle it out between the rock jetties in West Newport, as the competition heats up with the circuit hitting the half-way mark to National Championships in Huntington Beach next year.

NSSA brings together best surfers from around the nation to compete against one another. The Open is the NSSA’s most prestigious and premier division and only open to students who maintain a 2.0 GPA and higher. The NSSA, a nonprofit organization, has been around since 1978 and holds about 80 contests throughout the year.

Aragon said she’s impressed with the level of talent coming from the next generation of surfers.

“We have a lot of young kids this year, which is a really positive sign for the future,” she said. “They’re so impressive. You see some of the young talent doing airs now, and you’re seeing a lot of progressive surfing out of them because they’re watching the older kids.”